More relevant than at first glance

The surreal McCoy

Here is a list of Hong Kong movies followed by the films which they were remaking:

Aces Go Places – Get Charlie Tully.

Eastern Condors – The Dirty Dozen.

Dragons Forever – Not Just Another Affair.

All About Ah-Long – Kramer vs. Kramer.

City Hunter – Under Siege.

Wild Search – Witness.

The Killer – Le Samouraï.

Spider Woman – Basic Instinct.

God of Gamblers – Rain Man.

Black Cat – Nikita.

Bullet in the Head – The Deer Hunter.

The Bodyguard from Beijing – The Bodyguard.

Full Contact – Point Blank.

Miracles – My Fair Lady.

Pantyhose Hero – Partners.

The Sixty Million Dollar Man – The Mask.

High Risk – Die Hard.

Fulltime Killer – Assassins.

The Fun, the Luck and the Tycoon – Coming to America.

The Replacement Suspects – Albino Alligator.

Of course, there is a difference between a remake and a rip-off e.g. an El Mariachiclone titled Run. It was even filmed in Mexico. There is also a desperate Desperado doppelganger which is titled Killing Skill. Michael Hui’s Happy Din Don ripped off Some Like it Hot. A Gleam of Hope makes U.S. Marshals look less pathetic as a copycat of The Fugitive. Muto Bontie is a rip-off of Ruthless People. Also, The Wrath of Silence is derivative of The Silence of the Lambs to the extent that the poster has a butterfly.

Similarly, the poster of Seven 2 One gives away the intention that it’s the H.K. equivalent to Vantage Point. As for other H.K. movies where the line is blurred between rip-off and remake, there is The Mighty Peking Man (i.e. King Kong), Bloodfight (i.e. Bloodsport), Sex Medusa (i.e. Species), Hunting List (e.g. True Romance), Nightfall (i.e. Orphan), Hero of City (Reservoir Dogs), and Punished (i.e. Taken).